Mentorship with Camryn Wrona

When I was given this bubble to mentor someone, I felt a bit lost about how to mentor, but also so grateful. I ended up being assigned to meet nine times. So far, we’ve met seven, and we've already scheduled our last two, which will complete our mentorship by the time of my presentation. One of my main goals with this project was to reach teens about what it means to have our identity in Christ and how to do so. I also wanted, and want to, continue sharing my own experiences and testimonies to let them feel seen and know the Lord deeply loves them. To do that, I need to learn how to share my experiences and testimonies correctly.

I knew right away who I wanted to mentor, Camryn Wrona. I had known her since I was a Sophomore. And the next year,  

she came to Grace Prep and was in my D-Group, and we played Soccer together. Over those two years, we became very close and decided to prioritize helping one another continue to pursue the Lord and ultimately keep one another accountable. So this mentorship felt very natural and similar to what we had been previously doing.

Once she agreed to my mentoring her, we started as soon as our Soccer season ended. I had many books I wanted to read because we wanted to extend this bubble and keep meeting all year, but one that seemed perfect was Grounded in Grace by Jonathan Holmes. This book discusses how parents can help their teens develop their identity in Christ and build their lives on Him. When I researched the book, I thought it was for teens and about helping them build their own identity. Even though it was intended for parents, we still learned a lot from it. Rather than having us both read separately, we switched so that I read it, then tabbed the important parts and the pages we would read together. So when we met, we would read those sections, and if she was confused, I would help break it down for her, and then we would talk about how we could apply what we learned to our lives.

We aimed to meet every Monday after chapel, where we checked in with one another, emotionally and spiritually, to discuss what we’ve been seeing God do in our lives and others, and what we learned from the chapel and the book. Something we always ended up discussing was the different labels others were putting on us and what we were putting on ourselves. We both began to realize how much they were affecting every aspect of our lives, so we challenged ourselves not to let those labels define us and to remember who we are in Christ rather than by them.

This bubble has challenged me in many ways, but it has shown me how important it is to lean into what challenges us and

to share our experiences and what God is teaching us. This helped me truly understand the statement: God is constantly overflowing our cup so that what spills should be shared and poured into others, rather than keeping to ourselves.